Ring forming mechanism



April 4, 1951 s. E.. KAvlNsKx 2,977,999

RMING MEcHANIsM Filed April 22, 1959 te States I 23725999k yRING ronMiNG MacrrANrsM Stephen E. Kavin'ski, York, Pa., assi'gnor to SydvaniaV Electric Products Inc., a corporation of Delaware Filed Apr. 22, 1959, ser. Nu. 808,144 i v6 'Clairnaf (Cl. 140-8) vmechanisn'l'to cut up filamentary material and form themV into rings without the use of reciprocating elements.

2. back plate 42 rising from the table and'lies adjacent a hopper 44 also fastened, as Vby screws 46, to the back plate. The hopper includes a rear inclined wall 48 down which the split rings 49, when formed, will slide, the rings dropping onto an endless conveyor belt 50 the top run of which is at a level slightly below the mouth of the hopper. The conveyorl belt is wrapped around an idler roller 52 suitably 'rotatably supported on the table and about a drive roller 54 supported by the table and driven by means of a motor 56 through a pulley and i belt' mechanism 60.

A stillfurther object of the invention isto provide a means for forming oneturn helices and finallyflattening the helices to formplanar rings.

These and other objects will becomejapparent upon consideration of the following specification when taken in vconjunction with the accompanying drawing in which: Pig. ljis a perspective view of the ring formingand i'lattenng mechanism. a i

Fig. 2 is a view of the helical'ring formedb'y the cuttng of the wire on a mandrel. Fig. 3 is an end view ofa completed ring.-

Fig. 4 is a sectionthrough a thrust plate showing a j mandrel'with cutter blade therein and the filamentary material in section. i

Fig. 5 is a top view of a mandrel with its cutter blade and 4 Fig. 6 is a yside view of the mandreland blade'shown 'in' Fig. 5.

Now referring to the mechanism in greater detail, at 10 is a table on which is mounted a bracket 12 rotatably *supporting a spool-14. of filamentary material 16 such i as wire, solder, or fluX-cored solder. The material,ge;g., flux-cored solder wire, is threaded'over, a grooved idler roll 18, whose axle 20 is supported by sleeves 22 slidable on capped rods 24- extending laterally from a plate'26 The motor 56, by means of a driving pulley 64, helt 66, and driven pulley V68, drives a chuck spindle on which is mounted a conventional chu'ck 7'2 holding the mandrel 32. The spindle is journaled in bearings 73 and 74 suitably mountedon the table. The mandrel 32. passes snugly through a thrust plate 78 fastened in any conventional fashion against movement as by means of an angled plate 80 Secured to the thrust plate and the inclined wall 48 of the trough 44. The thrust plate may be made of wood so thatflthe iilamentary material may i -eventually cut a guiding spiral therein, or of harder wear resistant material, though wood is preferred to allow for formation of the spiral within theV surface of the wood.

i The mandrel32 is provided -with a knife blade 82 of hard metal, peened, brazed or otherwise suitably secured in a slotV at the end of the mandrel, the blade having a cutting edge 84 which is set at approximately 30 to the axis of the mandrel and of sufiicient length along the i mandrel to spanover more than the diameter of one turn of the solder wire and preferably over more than two diameters of the solder wire or other filamentary material, for a purpose to be described. Also it is desirable, though not imperative, that room be left for. a few turns of filamentary material between the back plate and the lower corner S6 of the blade. The motor may revolve quite quickly, as at 1200 revolutions per minute, and

lthe drive ratio between motor shaft and spindle may be selected atl to 1:5 to give a mandrel speed of 1800 revolutions per minute. The operator initially takes the end of the] solder Wire 16 and wraps it counterclockwise about the mandrel, as viewed in Fig. l, from the thrust plate 78 toward the operator and thrusts the loose end Iof the wire hard down over the cuttng edge of blade 32 near the end 86 thereof so that the free end of the wire would be anchored to prevent wire coil unraveling. Now

a when thev motor is started, the knife will pull on the filafastened to a stanchion 28 Iin turn fastened to the table.

Springs'29 surrounding the rods act on the sleeves 22 wire is'lthen wrapped once around about an idler roll 3i) with wide grooved face.y toimpose aslight drag onV 1 the wire land then the wire isU fed to arotating mandrel 32k for the wire to be formed into helical or'spiral split rings as will be'described. The roll -30 is rotatablyL alcohol, in the tank, the Iwheel andsolder'wire dippingi 7,7 into the liquid. The purpose of the liquid is to wet the surface of the solder Wire tofacilitate lateral slippaget of coils of'the wire on the mandrel, as will' be* described,

to resiliently maintain the roll 18 in position. The solder i blade.

mentary material and continue to wind the material on the mandrel, the material squeezing in between the thrust plate and the coil next adjacent thereto. This action is assisted by the liquid surface on the solder wire picked up from the tank 33. Also the coils in advance of the just formed coil will be forced to slide along the mandrel,

therfirst coil then being gradually sliced off from the rest of the solder wire by'the nclined edge 34 of the k height are all selected so that preferably oneturn of wire or solder wire is justbeing nicked by the blade to holdit i ly below the free end of the mandrel land directed down-I:

and an evaporative type of Vliquid is preferably utilizedfv to finally leave a dry' product, and tolubricate and cool a knife blade, to be described. v

The tank is suitably supported, as by screws. :40, to a 'down the inclined walll of the chute, there'is provided against slipping cir'cumferentially of the mandrel while a second turn is more nearly sliced completely through i its diameter and a third turn is completely slice'd. All

Vturns or spiral solder rings, in advance of the third turn have been'completely sliced and have fallen down into and through the hopper. To assist the khelical split-rings afsuitably supported 'air pipevs with a nozzle 9% directwardly along theV inclined'wall of the hopper.

, The rings as 'cut by the knife 82, as pointed out herei ftofore,1are helical and in so'meinstances it maya-be desirable to flatten the helix or spiral to a planar ring form. i

The inclination of the knife, its length and its This is accomplished by means of a roller 92 supported by a gantry 94 rising from the table.

The roller is set at a height above the belt so as to squeeze the helical ring to a planar form as shown at 96 in Fig. 3. To accommodate various diameters of solder wire, the roller 92 may be made vertically adjustable by providing it With hangers 98 threaded at their upper ends and passing through holes in the gantry. The threaded ends are provided With nuts 190 above and below the horizontal plate 102 of the gantry (only the upper nut being shown) to permit of vertical adjustment of the roller 92. The circular rings 96 thus drop from between the roller 92 and belt 50 and may be collected in any suitable fashion.

Having thus described the invention What is clairned is:

1. Mechanism for forming a filamentary material into helices comprisinig a chuck, means for rotating the chuck, a mandrel held by said chuck, and a cutting mechanism consisting of a single fixed sharp edged cutting blade carried by and extending laterally of the mandrel and outside of the periphery thereof at a point spaced from the chuck and a thrust plate positioned between the chuck and the blade, whereby when a wire is fed onto the mandrel between the plate and the blade, the knife, by itself, will effect a severing of the wire.

2. Mechanism for forming a filamentary material into helices comprising a support, a chuck rotatably mounted in the support, means for rotating the chuck, a mandrel held by said chuck, and a cutting mechanism consisting of a single fixed sharp edged cutting blade carried by and extending laterally of the mandrel and outside of the periphery thereof at a point spaced from the chuckand a thrust plate fixedly mounted on the support positioned between the chuck and the blade.

3. Mechanism for forming a filamentary material into helices comprising a chuck, means for rotating the chuck, a mandrel held byksaid chuck, an inclined single fixed sharp edged cutting blade carried by and extending laterally of the mandrel, said blade increasing in height toward the free end of the mandrel and spaced from the chuck, a thrust plate between the chuck and blade and positioned between the chuck and blade.

4. Mechanism for forming a filamentary materiar into helices comprising a chuck, means for rotating the chuck, a mandrel held by said chuck, an inclined single fixed Sharp edged cutting blade carried by and extending laterally of the mandrel, said blade increasing in height toward the free end of the mandrel and spaced from the chuck, a stationary thrust plate surrounding the mandrel and interposed between the chuck and blade.

5. Mechanism for forming a wire into helices of one turn each comprising a tank for holding a lubricating liquid, a roll dipping into said tank and about Which the Wire is adapted to be wrapped, a chuck, means to rotate the chuck, a smooth mandrel held by said chuck,V a cutting mechanism consisting of a single cutting blade supported by the mandrel spaced from the chuck, and extending beyond the periphery of the mandrel, and an element having a thrust surface positioned about the mandrel and facing the blade operative to feed the lubrieated wire from the roll and which has been wrapped about the mandrel, thereby cutting the Wire into helices of one tum each.

6. Mechanism for forming wire into helices of one turn each comprising means for holding a supply of said wire, a chuck, a mandrel held by said chuck, means to direct a wire from said supply to over said mandrel; said mandrel carrying a single fixed Sharp edged knife, said knife extending laterally therefrom and at a distance from said chuck, said blade increasing in height toward the free end of said mandrel, a thrust member about the mandrel and located at a distance from the knife, the wire over the mandrel being adapted to be wrapped about the mandrel in abutrnent with the thrust member and engaged at its fee end with the knife, and means to rotate the chuck whereby the wire Will be thrust by the thrust member against the knife and the knife Will cut the wire into helices of one turn each.

References Cted in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 367,923 Peck Aug. 9, 1887 617,704 Alexander Jan. 17, 1899 946,531 Beech Jan. 18, 1910 1,081,359 Braddock Dec. 16, 1913 1,856,953 Forster May 3, 1932 1,881,659 Kellems c- Oct. 11, 1932 2,636,523 Hammerschlog Apr. 28, 1953 2;688,346 England Sept. 7, 1954 FOREIGN PATENTS 289,770 Great Britain Apr. 25, 1929 

